State’s failure to fund infrastructure hits eastern Montana towns hard

Using carbon copies of handwritten receipts, Gordon Oelkers tracks the charge accounts of neighbors who come to Oelkers Servicenter for gas, new tires and oil changes. He trusts his neighbors; in part because they know he will, in turn, spend the same money at their businesses.

As Culbertson mayor, Oelkers doesn’t hold the same trust for state leaders.

For six years, eastern Montana communities have sent more than $200 million in annual oil and gas production taxes to Helena. Aside from the usual share that returns to county and school coffers, no cash has come back to cities to help offset the cost of expensive infrastructure projects forced by the Bakken boom.

JAYME FRASER Independent Record

Full Story: http://helenair.com/news/state-and-regional/state-s-failure-to-fund-infrastructure-hits-eastern-montana-towns/article_38e70388-7dca-59fd-aec5-e638cbc14289.html